Fluctuations of marine zoobenthos in the Arctic in relation to climatological variability

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Objective

Baseline studies on the natural variation in marine benthos communities are prerequisite to the understanding and prediction of future changes which may, for example, be induced by global climatological trends. This project of two Russian and several central and west European institutes is intended to collect, evaluate and analyse Russian long-term zoobenthos data from the Barents Sea for trends, as well as to relate these with hydrological, climatological and planktological changes. Such changes are known to be strongly influenced by the variability of the north Atlantic warm water inflow into the Barents Sea.

The corresponding Russian benthos research activities were initiated as early as 1870, but were interrupted in the 1980s. A revival of part of these long-term investigations is planned.

The long-term evaluations will be supported by short-term process studies in sub-Arctic and Arctic inshore waters, which are aimed at a better understanding of key processes in population dynamics, such as recruitment and recolonization, as well as of the physiological processes involved. By comparing the results with those obtained in ongoing Wadden Sea projects, a broad latitudinal gradient from temperate (North Sea) and Boreo-Arctic (White Sea) up to high Arctic (Franz-Josef-Land) waters will be covered. Thus predictions about climate-related population shifts will be facilitated.